On the right path to food production

Now, that the Independence celebrations are over and after 51 years have passed, as a farmer there is something I will always remember and would like to highlight.

That is how the current Minister of Food Production, Devant Maharaj, his associate, Nigel Grimes, and all the employees of the Ministry of Food Production, for the first time in this country, gave us locally produced onions with full nutritional value on our kitchen tables; and what was most impressive was the fact that these onions were sold at the same retail price as the foreign onions that are harvested months before, losing their nutritional value before arriving in this country.

Judging from this one act alone, I can say the ministry is on the right path to food production.

At the same time I must commend the dairy farmers and the rice farmers in this country for the good quality milk and brown rice they are producing.

Seeing that this minister and all the hardworking employees of his ministry are on a new thrust in agriculture, I have a suggestion. I would like the ministry to modernise the farmers’ badges and make them similar in size to credit cards and driver’s permits so that I can keep it in my wallet and use it as a national ID and be proud to be a farmer.